Recreation + Resiliency: Adapting to Shocks and Stressors Through Integrative Parks Planning

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As stressors of climate change and shocks of natural hazards undermine the health, safety and vibrancy of communities, social systems must contribute to achieving resilient communities. The Mariposa County (California) Recreation and Resiliency Plan not only supports development and maintenance of parks and recreation amenities, but also applies a resiliency framework to align decisions with wider climate-change adaptation and risk-reduction objectives. Extensive community input led to strategies that leverage parks, trails and open spaces to achieve adaptation and mitigation outcomes, like reducing wildfire risk and supporting disaster response activities. This session describes a 20-year direction for a rural Sierra Nevada County to establish itself as a resiliency leader and great place to recreate. In focus will be the 'how': how the plan addressed the intersection of recreation and resilience; how a system confronts climate-change impacts; and how health and economic development are promoted.

Learning Objectives:

Apply digital stakeholder engagement techniques to align park and recreation investments with community-resiliency priorities.
Identify, detail and support the implementation of strategic park and recreation projects that achieve both the community's recreation and resiliency objectives.
Plan for a context-sensitive system of parks, trails and open spaces that contribute to healthy and prosperous rural communities, particularly in amenity-rich rural areas.

Carly Klein (she/her)

Senior Planner

Pitkin County Open Space and Trails

Prior to becoming a designer, Carly Klein worked summers in the field for the Bureau of Land Management learning first-hand the risks of wildfire on the landscape and built environments of the West. Now, as a Landscape Architect and Planner for Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, her natural systems experiences inform design and planning projects ranging from management plans, recreation studies, and site-scale design.

Steve Frisch

President

Sierra Business Council

Steve is President of Sierra Business Council and one of its founding members. Over the last 20 years, Sierra Business Council has leveraged more than $100 million of investment in the Sierra Nevada and its communities through community and public-private partnerships. Sierra Business Council also manages the Sierra Small Business Development Center.

Mikey Goralnik (he/him)

Community Design and Development Planner

Mariposa County Planning Department

Mikey Goralnik, AICP, PLA is the Community Design and Development Planner at the Mariposa (CA) County Planning Department. In this role, he manages interdisciplinary community planning and design initiatives, including parks, recreation, and creative placemaking programs, and projects that blend economic development, ecological design, and public health.